Bhubaneswar: Tour De Kalinga, the longest-ever community cycling tour in the state, concluded after a journey of 1300 km in 13 days. The concluding ceremony was held at Bhubaneswar here Thursday.
As many as thirty national and international cyclists have covered 1,300 kilometres in 13 days from Bhubaneswar to Koraput.
Earlier, the fourth edition of Tour de Kalinga 2018 was flagged off by the Governor of Orissa Prof. Ganeshi Lal December 8, 2018. The tour comprised 30 cyclists representing the states of Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. The whole team also included a variety of professionals like doctors, lawyers, chartered accountants, journalists, IITians, army, navy, air force and vigilance officers and sportsmen among others.
The cyclists pedalled through Bhubaneswar, Konark, Puri, Satapada, Brahmapur, Chandragiri, Paralakhmundi and Rayagada. They returned to Bhubaneswar via Rayagada, Belghar, Phulbani, Nayagarh and Khordha.
“It was a tough journey. There was snowfall-like situation and we faced Cyclone Phetai. However, our team members overcame the difficulties with indomitable courage,” Sudhir Kumar Dash, founder of Roots of Odisha Foundation, said on Friday.
The cyclists were overwhelmed by the pristine beauty of the nature along their way.
Upon their return, the cyclists were felicitated by Bhubaneswar North MLA Priyadarshi Mishra, India’s former 100-m hurdle race queen Anuradha Biswal, industrialist Badri Narayan Pattanaik, social activist Badri Narayan Mishra, sand artist Manas Sahoo, ex-Vice-Chancellor of Tirupati Sanskrit University Harekrishna Satapthy and Congress State vice-president Aryakumar Jnanendra.
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